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Witness
"Witness" is the seventh episode in season 1, and overall the seventh produced hour of Person of Interest. It originally aired on November 3, 2011. Synopsis New York, NY The Machine has identified a school teacher named Charlie Burton, a witness to a mob hit that went down. The man is missing now, in hiding. Carter and Fusco are at a convenience store where a man was executed earlier. Organized crime detective Szymanski tells them that the victim was Benny D'Agostino, a former mob lieutenant. A mob war is currently going on, with half a dozen Russian mobsters being killed off by D'Agostino's crew. D'Agostino's boss is the mysterious Elias, who shot at Carter previously. As Reese is monitoring Burton's apartment, Fusco calls him saying that the police are looking for a witness to a mob hit and giving him Burton's description. That's when an army of Russian mobsters pull up outside of Burton's apartment. Reese follows them inside and breaks into Burton's apartment. He warns Burton that he is in danger. Burton is terrified by this, asking Reese, "How do I know you're not one of them?". Reese replied, "Cause I'm standing in front of you and you're still alive." Reese gets into a fight with one of the mobsters as the others find the apartment empty, causing Reese's cell phone to be damaged. Burton unfortunately doesn't have a phone. Reese and Burton get into a car where the mobsters open fire on them. Burton is shot in the shoulder. Reese and Burton flee into an apartment run by Bulgarian drug dealers that Burton claims the Russians wouldn't even go into. Burton explains to Reese why he didn't report the shooting - because of the corruption in the police force he doesn't trust cops. Reese assures him of a detective they can trust, probably Carter. Meanwhile, Carter, Fusco and Detective Szymanski talk to Patti D’Agostino, D'Agostino's widow. She insists she never met Elias but knows that the enigmatic criminal plans to reunite the five families and take out the Russian mob for good. They arrive at the scene where the mob opened fire on Burton. Apparently a bystander got a picture. One of the mobsters is identified as Peter Yogorov, son of a notorious Russian mobster boss named Ivan Yogorov. Finch is busy hacking an ATM at the scene to find out what happened to Reese and Burton, after not being in contact with Reese. He sees a car pursuing them. He figures Elias is after Burton and the Russians want him dead because he witnessed the hit. He also notices that one of the mobsters getting out of the car is a police officer. He calls Fusco and tells him to report Elias' vehicle as stolen and to email the report number to a specific address. The Russian mobsters are surrounding the building still but will not enter because of the Bulgarians. But Reese has no problem with the confrontation. He says to one of them, "Hello, fella. Can I borrow some of your drugs?" Reese takes some of the drugs and uses the cocaine to treat Burton's injury and uses glue to seal his wound. Carter explains to Szymanski that she suspects Elias in the son of an old mob boss who's trying to reclaim his father's old territory by taking out the Russians. The Bulgarians and the Russians team up to take out Burton because of Reese's drug dealer ordeal. Reese manages to break down a wall and uses a line, connecting a phone and calling Finch. He tells him to find a way out that no one else could. So Finch finds a service entrance for them to escape into. Reese then tells Finch to tell Fusco to meet them at Pier 11 at 7 am. Reese leads Burton to the service stairs but they can't make it in time. The gangs are nearby. Lucky for them, one of Burton's students, Will, lives in the building and offers them safe harbor. Will manages to help Reese and Burton escape the mobsters and get out of the building. Unfortunately the gangster Lazlo, one of Yogorov's sons, crosses paths with them and Reese takes him hostage. Fusco, meanwhile, has emailed the stolen NYPD vehicle report for Finch. Finch contacts the vehicle recovery service posing as Fusco, convincing them to activate the car's GPS locator and microphone for him. Finch manages to find the car, tracking down the mob gang in a parking garage. He snaps photos and gets one of the man he believes to be Elias. Reese steals Laszlo's cell phone and contacts Finch, telling him to tip off Carter about the mobsters in the apartment complex. Reese, Burton and Laszlo head to Pier 11, but Finch picks up a conversation in the vehicle belonging to Elias. Fusco is waiting at the pier and receives a call from Finch, who's convinced that Fusco has betrayed them. As he protests his innocence Fusco is jumped by one of Elias' men. Reese and Burton are on a river ferry when Burton suddenly pulls a gun on Reese, revealing he's Elias and had been posing as a high school teacher to study his enemies through his students-their childern. At gun point, Reese ties himself to the ferry's railings. Burton announces, "It's time to evolve - I'm ready for the next step!" Burton/Elias shoots Laszlo in the leg and tells him to give his father, Ivan, a message - he has until tonight to get out of town. Elias warns Reese to stay out of his way or they'll meet again "under less pleasant circumstances." After Elias escapes Reese meets with Finch and Fusco, who had been badly beaten, and hands over Laszlo. Finch tries to tell Reese it wasn't his fault, that they didn't know, but Reese can't forgive himself. At the end of the episode, one of Elias' men tracks down Ivan and murders him in cold blood. He tells his boss that it is done. But all Elias can say is, "No. It's just the beginning..." Trivia *The book,'' The Count of Monte Cristo'' by Alexandre Dumas, is the homework that Will is completing. Jim Caviezel (Reese) starred in a 2002 production of this story. *Brighton Beach is a neighborhood primarily composed of people from the Former Soviet Union. There is hardly an Albanian contingent to speak of, if at all, which allegedly runs the "Brighton Beach Projects" or the Double-B's. *There are no government subsidized projects within the Brighton Beach neighborhood. Production notes Music *"Sinnerman" by Nina Simone - End of episode. Featured locations *The BRS (Bay Ridge Savings) bank where Finch hacks into the ATM is really a Jewish Community Centre (Shorefront YM-YWHA of Brighton - Manhattan Beach, Inc) located at 3300 Coney Island Avenue, adjacent to Brighton Beach BRS-1.jpg|"BRS BanK" BRS-3.jpg|"BRS" Field of View BRS-2.jpg|711 Brightwater Court Shore-front.jpg|Jewish Community Center BRS-4.jpg|NYPD on-scene as Finch leaves BRS-5.jpg|Police Presense west of "BRS" bank BRS-6.jpg|Brighton 7th Street / Brightwater Court Shore-front-map.jpg|Jewish Community Center & environs map BB-filmng-area.jpg|Brighton Beach filming area Recurring Themes *Double life Quotes *"The machine found a man who was targeted for death - we just didn't know that he was also a killer." -Finch *"How many…. numbers will come up because we saved one man's life?" -Reese Clips File:Person of Interest - Person of Interest - Preview Witness|Witness File:Person of Interest 1x07 - Witness Promo (720p).avi|Witness Promo References es:Witness 107 107